McLean County finance committee approves mobile‑home tax‑certificate actions, budget adjustments and licenses

The McLean County Finance Committee on March 5 approved resolutions to assign and cancel mobile‑home tax‑sale certificates, filed the county treasurer—s monthly financial reports and cleared several budget, personnel and licensing items, the committee confirmed at its regular meeting.

The committee voted to allow the county treasurer to assign four mobile‑home tax‑sale certificates to mobile‑home parks where owners had abandoned the units, and to cancel other mobile‑home tax‑sale certificates where owners later paid amounts due after the trustee acquired title. County Treasurer Becky McNeil explained the trustee program to the committee and said parks are asking the county to assign certificates in exchange for payment so the parks can obtain titles. "If you ever have any questions about the trustee program, reach out to me," McNeil said. "These are 4 parcels, 4 mobile home parcels. The owners abandoned the mobile homes. Trustee acquired title to the mobile home, and now the mobile home parks wanna purchase the mobile homes. So, in exchange for payment, they're asking us to assign our tax sale certificate to them." The motions were moved and seconded by committee members and adopted by voice vote with no opposition recorded.

Why it matters: assigning or canceling tax‑sale certificates affects ownership and title of mobile homes in county parks and can determine whether a property owner or park retains a unit. The committee treated the mobile‑home items as trustee actions connected to the county treasurer's office and moved them by resolution.

Treasurer's financial highlights and clarifications

McNeil also presented the treasurer's monthly report and other finance materials. She said February receipts for state revenue and shared sales tax were down and asked the committee to continue monitoring collections. McNeil reported the shared sales tax fund equity at $18,700,000 and said property tax billing is expected to begin in April. On investments, McNeil reported "Overall, we have 124,200,000.0 in cash and investments," with a majority invested in the Illinois Funds at a rate she described as 4.5%. She summarized: "The bulk of our funds are invested at the Illinois funds with a rate of 4.5%." On the nursing‑home fund, McNeil provided a 2024 snapshot (the nursing home operates a month behind the county ledger): she reported fund equity of $724,781 for 2024, revenues and transfers of $11,900,000 and expenses and transfers out of $12,300,000, and said the fund is still awaiting audit adjustments the county auditor may make; she cautioned the monthly snapshot could change after audit entries. Committee member Klaus asked McNeil to recheck how receivables were summed in quarterly views; McNeil acknowledged modifications to the report and said she would review the quarter totals and the general ledger figures.

Other actions approved

The committee approved a Class C raffle license application for Special Olympics of Illinois, with a prize pool of up to $50,000; a 2025 employee wellness program budget (the Public Health Department and Director Jessica McKnight were noted as program leads on the wellness fair); an emergency appropriation ordinance to amend the McLean County FY2024 combined annual appropriation and budget ordinance (end‑of‑year adjustments for departments under the committee's oversight); and an administrative salary adjustment in the Children's Advocacy Department to align wages with minimum standards under a DCFS grant (the salary item had been approved earlier by the Justice Committee and was forwarded to finance for action). All items were moved, seconded and adopted by voice vote with no opposition recorded.

Procedure and calendar

The committee approved its February 5, 2025 minutes and recommended approval of bills and transfers to the County Board by voice vote. Vice Chair Friedrich confirmed that Member Layman was authorized to attend electronically under county rules and the Open Meetings Act after a motion and majority vote to allow remote participation. The committee set its next meeting for April 9, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. and then recessed into a closed session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11) to discuss probable or pending litigation, as recorded in the meeting minutes.

Ending: Committee members thanked staff for the detail in the treasurer's reports and asked clarifying follow‑up on nursing‑home receivables; McNeil offered to provide additional detail on request.